"Two
Spirit" is an aboriginal phrase (A direct translation of
the Ojibwe term Niizh manidoowag) that refers to both
masculine and feminine spirits simultaneously living in
the same body. It is a term used by the native,
indigenous, or aboriginal lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer community.

Within the various native or aboriginal populations
(American Indian, Canadian Indian, Alaskan Native,
Inuit, First Nations, and others), LGBTQ individuals
often have difficulty overcoming the cultural taboos
against homosexual behavior.

Native
people whose gender identify differs are often subject
to shaming, a form of social censorship within the
tribal community. Shame is rendered for inappropriate
social behavior, particularly any personal expression
for flamboyant dress, mannerisms and especially
effeminate behavior among males. Likewise, shame is
given any female whose overt masculine behaviors
demonstrate her toughness. In short, tolerance in a
contemporary Indian community over the years has evolved
to allow no alternatives for a male or female Indian
identity. Doing so would be considered to bring shame
not just on the individual but also negative attention
to their family.

As a result of tribal community pressures, young people
who have a different sexual orientation often grow up in
a closeted existence or actual isolation. This imposed
isolation is self-destructive and limits individuals
from living to their fullest potential. In a school
environment, many of these young people are subjected to
bullying and harassment from their classmates. In this
atmosphere, support is generally unavailable and creates
an unsafe environment within the school. Nonetheless,
there are exceptional gay students who somehow endure
and who are accepted as equals by their peers. However,
the majority of gay students exhibit behaviors such as
skipping school, which affects their academic
performance, or simply will become a run away from both
home and school.

For Native
LGBTQ people who seek life in a city for anonymity, the
experience can be far more negative than staying within
their home community. Like most natives reared in a
tribal community, Native LGBTQ people retain pride in
their identity, where they are from and who are their
relatives. Living in a city can unfortunately give a
sense of alienation that is both physical and emotional.
Native LGBTQ individuals often grieve their separation
from family and community when they are unaccepted in a
city because of their lifestyle as well as being a
Native. This experience results in a double
discrimination for Native LGBTQ people instead of the
desired anonymity.

"Two-Spirit" is an umbrella term sometimes used by
Native American and Canadian First Nation communities to
refer to those who fulfill one of many mixed gender
roles. Two-Spirit people are generally defined as LGBTQ
and gender-variant members of the Native American/First
Nation communities. Many contemporary LGBTQ North
American indigenous or aboriginal people use the term
“Two-Spirit” to maintain cultural continuity with their
traditions.

In many
cultures, some individuals possessed and manifested a
balance of both feminine and masculine energies, making
them inherently sacred people. Third gender roles
historically embodied by Two-Spirit people include
performing work and wearing clothes associated with both
men and women. The presence of two-spirits was a
fundamental institution among most tribal peoples. Male
and female two-spirits have been documented in over 150
tribes, in every region of North America, serving
specific duties, including men fulfilling women’s roles,
women fulfilling men’s roles, and importantly,
Two-Spirit individuals contributing as spiritual
leaders.

It is documented in academic literature that many
American Indian cultures honored and respected
alternative sexual lifestyles and gender roles, which
the Two-Spirit movement is attempting to recover. A
complex sex/gender system was found in every region of
the continent, among every type of Native culture, from
the small bands of hunters in Alaska to the populous,
hierarchical city-states in Florida. Lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, and queer orientations were
honored and often coincided with healing and shamanic
practices.

Before the
late twentieth century, the term “berdache” was widely
used by anthropologists as a generic term to indicate
two-spirit individuals. However, this term has become
increasingly outdated and considered offensive. The term
“Two-Spirit” gained widespread popularity in 1990 during
the third annual intertribal Native American/First
Nations gay and lesbian conference in Winnipeg.

"Two-spirited" or "two-spirit" usually indicates a
person whose body simultaneously manifests both a
masculine and a feminine spirit. These individuals were
sometimes viewed in certain tribes as having two spirits
occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of
traditionally male and traditionally female articles.
They have distinct gender and social roles in their
tribes. The term can also be used more abstractly, to
indicate presence of two contrasting human spirits (such
as Warrior and Clan Mother) or two contrasting animal
spirits (which, depending on the culture, might be Eagle
and Coyote).

Two-Spirit
is a native tradition that researchers have identified
in some of the earliest discoveries of native artifacts.
Much evidence indicates that native people, prior to
colonization, believed in the existence of cross-gender
roles, the male-female, the female-male, what we now
call the Two-Spirited person. Two-spirits might have
relationships with people of either sex. Female-bodied
two-spirits usually had sexual relations or marriages
with only females.

Two-spirit
people were often the visionaries, the healers, the
medicine people, the nannies of orphans, the care
givers. They were respected as fundamental components of
their ancient culture and societies. In some tribes,
male-bodied two-spirits held specific active roles
which, varying by tribe, may include: healers or
medicine persons, conveyors of oral traditions and
songs, foretellers of the future, conferrers of lucky
names on children or adults, nurses during war
expeditions, potters, matchmakers, makers of feather
regalia for dances, and special role players in the Sun
Dance.

Although two-spirits were both respected and feared in
many tribes, the two-spirit was not beyond reproach or
even being killed for bad deeds. They frequently became
medicine persons and were likely to be suspected of
witchcraft in cases of failed harvest or of death. They
were, like any other medicine person, frequently killed
over these suspicions. At the same time, traditional
Two-Spirit customs and ceremonies have, in many cases,
been replaced with Anglo-Christian ideology and
homophobia.